Knee Anatomy for Lawyers

The knee is a complex joint, and understanding its anatomy is one of the key elements to successfully presenting and litigating claims of knee injury. The largest and heaviest of the body’s hinge joints, the knee must not only move forward and backward, but also must twist and rotate. It does this using four bones, bands of connective tissue, tendons, and other structures.

The knee is a joint composed of four bones connected by thick bands of tissue known as ligaments. The femur (or thighbone) is the top bone of the knee, while two lower leg bones (the tibia and fibula) make up the lower portion of the joint. The patella (kneecap) is the fourth bone and it slides in a groove on the thigh bone.

There are four main ligaments that hold the thigh bone and the shinbone (tibia) together and provide stability to the knee. They are the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), the posterior cruciate ligament (PCL), the medial collateral ligament, and the lateral collateral ligament. The cruciate ligaments cross one another, stretching diagonally from the bottom of your thighbone to the top of your shinbone. The medial collateral ligament runs along the inner side of the knee, while the lateral runs along the outer side of the knee.

There are also two important tendons that make it possible for you to straighten your leg. Tendons are fibrous bands of tissue that connect muscle to bone. In the knee, the two most important are the quadriceps tendon and the patellar tendon. The quadriceps tendon connects the quadriceps muscle (the front of your thigh) to the patella. The patellar tendon connects the patella to the shinbone.

Other structures commonly of interest in injury cases are associated with cushioning. The meniscus is a C-shaped piece of cartilage that cushions the knee joint. The bursae are fluid-filled sacs that both crush the joint and allow ligaments and tendons to glide across the joint.

In a normal knee, these structures work well together. However, when one or more of the structures is damaged by injury and inflammation, the results can include pain, weakness. and limitation in function.

The Erie knee injury lawyers at Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. have experience with cases involving knee injuries. These cases often result from direct impact to the knee, as sometimes occurs in car accidents or truck accidents or from twisting/awkward landings, as in a slip and fall. Our primary goal is to make sure that our clients and their families receive the compensation and resources they need to treat and manage their knee injury and to compensate them for their losses.

As skilled Erie injury lawyers who have helped injured clients who suffer from serious knee injuries, we understand how to evaluate these cases and can help you obtain the funds necessary to pay for your medical care, including surgery if that is required.

Call Purchase, George & Murphey, P.C. today, toll free at 814-273-2010, to schedule a consultation with an Erie lawyer who has experience in cases involving knee injuries.

We will fight for your legal rights to the money and resources you need to fix what can be fixed, help what can be helped, and make up for what cannot be fixed or helped.